The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-30
THE WORLDS BIG GUNS.
Some of the Monsters Built for the
Ships and Ports of Foreign Powers
From the Neic York Sun.

from the Nelc York san.
WASHINGTON. July 2G-The havoc made
in the Atlanta's fixtures by the inadequacy
| of her gun carriages to hold and control her
pivot guns, calls attention TO the fact that
while the latter are very powerful for
an unarnforcd cruiser OF her size, they
would make a small show compared with
the heaviest ordnance now carried III war
ships.
The progress Of thirty years in construct
ing heavy guns has been extraordinary
The largest pieces found on war vessels IN
1850 threw a ball weighing GS pounds, with
an initial velocity of 30 feet per second.
and an energy OF l 100 foot tons. Now mi
| tial velOcities in high-power guns have been
increased to 100 feet; projectiles at the
maximum weigh as much as 200 pounds,
and i'll some cases are propelled by charges
of nearly half ton of powder, While the
| 1lO-ton guns Of the Benbow reach an energy
of about 10000 foot tons.
! Passing over the triumphs obtained by in
| termediate calibreS, which were remarkable
! in their day, we find that the largest French
| steel guns, such as are used for the arma-
| ment Of the Terrible, completed at Brest,
| the Rcquin, built at Bordeaux, the Indomit-
| able, built at LlOrcnt, and the Caiman,
| finished at TOulOn, weigh each about 40
| tons. They deliver projcctile weighing
| l7l6 pounds, with a mu2Zle velocity of
! 1,I39 feet per second and q muzzle energy OF
10000 foot tons. The guns are rified breech-
| leaders. The French have other powerful
| guns, those constructed on the Bange sys-
TEN being well known.
| Tho Armstrong guns now mounted for
! service in the Italian armor-clads Duiho,
! DandolO, Italia and Lcpanto weigh 100 tons
| each, and throw 4 prOiectile of :, 900 pounds
| These have long been familiar, but the later
! breech- loading guns are improvements over
| the early muZ2le leaders The most pow
| erful of them take a powder charge OF
| about III pounds and have an initial velO-
city of !, $50 feet per second, and a muzzle
energy OF 81 900 foot tons Guns of 100
| tons have been nude at Elswick for the
| Francesca LAURA, the Andrea DOna, and
| the Morosini. In these the weight of the
| charge is 900 pounds, the weight of the pro
| jectile 1900 pounds, the muzzle velocity
| 2,0l9 feet per second, the muzzle energy
| 5G,5f7 foot tons The will undoubtedly
prove most formidable weapons.
The largest Krupp gun weighs nearly 10
tons. 1t is over As feet long, has a calibre
of 1874 inches, and fires a shot weighing
| @,3l4 pounds, with a muZ2le velocity OF
500 feet. The maximum elevation gives it
a range of nearly ~ miles. Its power of
penetration into wrought iron is estimated
at about II inches at the muzzle, 81 inches
Ut ttlc lilSJIDCb Vi l,lOO anu ~
| at 1000 yards. At the distance of three
miles its striking average is still about
| $4,000 foot tons. The Italians have two of
| these guns mounted in a shore battery, for
| which purpose they are intended.
The English 1lO-ton gun, manufactured at
| Elswick, is about A feet long and its actual
weight 2417 95 pounds. The screw block,
removed in loading, weighs 2l4 tons. The
| projectile is a bolt weighing | 800 pounds,
| a. in Iii
pounds of powder the actual muzzle velocity
attained was 2078 feet, and the muzzle en-
| ergy $1,000 foot tons: SO that with $50
| pounds which the gun is constructed to use,
| an energy on the prOjeCtile of g. 100 foot
| tons is expected. The recoil of the gun is
| very small. The British also have power
| full new gun in their 63-ton steel brcech-
| loader, which will be carried on the Rodney.
1t is expected to throw 80 4 inch shot, of
| 1850 pounds, with powder charge Of $50
pounds, and to~ttain 2,100 feet muzzle We
| loCity. Should these expectations be real
lied, this gun, though much lighter will be
more destructive than the S0-ton gun Of the
lntlexible, which takes projectile of l ,70O
| pounds, with q cartridge of 40 pounds,
| reaching a mu2Zlc velocity of 600 feet.
1t is said that the next step attempted III
heavy gun construction will be that of q
1j0-ton monster, this project being attribu-
ted TO the Essen works. It would throw a
shell six feet long, weighing a ton and a
half. There are also some guns under con
struction which are expected to accomplish
great results on somewhat new theories as
in the case of the one manufactured fol-
Col. Hope This is to take an enormous
powder charge, and to have correspondingly
great penetrativo effect. But without going
into the possible successes of the future
those which have already been achieved are
sufficiently astonishing,